More than half of British GPs think organisations such as the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) and the British Medical Association (BMA) should drop opposition to assisted dying and adopt a ‘neutral stance’. That is the conclusion of a poll, organised by the British campaign group Dignity in Dying.
This position is taken by 55% of the surveyed GPs, and count for the situation in which the patient is terminally ill, competent and adult. Only a third of respondents saying they backed organisations such as the RCGP and BMA retaining their current stance. GPs’ views on whether the law should change to legalise assisted dying were more widely split – with 33% against a change in the law, 32% for and 34% unsure or neutral. More than 1,000 GPs took part in the poll.
In other countries, such as the Netherlands, it were the physicians, together with their patients, who encouraged the legislators to change the law. Therefore this development might be of great importance for the British legalisation attempts.
To read more about (results of) the poll, read the newsitem on GP online or the message on the website of Dignity in Dying.
United Kingdom